Caol, about your question on commas in a series.
 
I don't think there's any "rule.' exactly.  I believe you've found the
conventions.  Some editors and writers follow one line; other editors and
writers follow another.  An awful lot of "problems" people find with
conventions are because of such mixed usage.  If you look, for instance, at
the _New Yor Times_ style manual, you'll likely find one set of conventions.
The _U.S. News_ style manual might have some different ones, particularly
about comma usage, etc.  The conventions are not, of course, all different.
By far and large, the editors and writers of both publications will agree,
though on some issues like comma usage, they may differ.  So, the best you
can do with problems of divided usage is to choose one way or the other and
be consistent.  That's really all either _The New York Times_ or U.S. News_
are doing.  They're setting consistent policies for their own writers and
editors.  You have a choice.  Myself, I put commas between all the items of a
series, but I think _The NY Times_ does not.   --Max